Photo Flash: Melissa Etheridge in AMERICAN IDIOT!

[Rob]

Posted: 1/31/11 at 11:38am

Click Here to Read Photo Flash: Melissa Etheridge in AMERICAN IDIOT!

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 1/31/11 at 12:15pm

Interesting. Looking forward to seeing her tomorrow.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 1/31/11 at 11:02pm

Holy airbrushing Batman!

[quizking101]

Posted: 2/1/11 at 1:12pm

Oy gevalt...no good can come of this.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 2/1/11 at 1:39pm

I can't wait for tonight. It should be very interesting.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 2/1/11 at 3:21pm

I think she looks damn good. Perhaps not as edgy as Tony or Billie Joe, but she's a rock star. I'm looking forward to seeing her tonight.

[wheelsinmotion]

Posted: 2/1/11 at 11:13pm

She was AMAZING. Show is pretty awful though..

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 2/2/11 at 12:06am

Melissa is electric and amazing-no doubt she will rock it. That photo is more slimmed down than Patti's GYPSY poster. Just sayin'.

[littlepaperstars]

Posted: 2/2/11 at 2:53am

I did not enjoy her performance at all, her voice didn't really suit the material, and she was late coming into several of her verses. I also found the constant cries of "I love you, Melissa!" unnecessary and very distracting....

The rest of the cast was on fire though, and I really enjoyed Van Hughes' take on Johnny. Much more vulnerable than John Gallagher Jr. and there was a real arc to the character.

I'm not disappointed I went, but I'm hoping they can find someone more in line with the show. (When I first heard they were casting a woman I was really hoping for Gwen Stefani. I know she's never done theater before but I think she could be a really interesting choice.)

[wheelsinmotion]

Posted: 2/2/11 at 10:02am

How strange that a rock star who has never acted in anything in her life would have a few hiccups the night of her Broadway debut... the audience LOVED her and got to see a legend onstage. The cries of "We love you, Melissa" were clearly from her fans and, while they were rude and inappropriate, you cannot blame Melissa for that. Don't worry, your beloved rock star will be back in the show in a week.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 2/2/11 at 10:53am

I was pleasantly surprised. The issue during "St. Jimmy" aside, I really enjoyed her. "Last Night On Earth," "Know Your Enemy," and "Death Of St. Jimmy" were definitely her strongest points. Vocally, it was AMAZING.

[littlepaperstars]

Posted: 2/2/11 at 11:09am

@wheelsinmotion How interesting and very typical for BWW that you assume I prefer Billie Joe's performance. (For the record, his is flawed as well. I think Tony Vincent is the better of the three, though I think the real problems lie with the character.)

Whether or not she has acted on stage before is irrelevant. If she can't find a vocal cue that's a problem with her singing, not her acting. I've seen plenty of stunt cast shows where singers take on acting parts and vice versa and have never been so disapointed as I was last night.

Clearly, you're a fan of hers and that's fine, but just because an audience of fellow Melissa Etheridge fans ate up her performance, that doesn't make my opinion any less valid than anyone who did enjoy her.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 2/2/11 at 11:37am

She definitely got better as the night went out. Her vocals on "Last Night On Earth" were fantastic. The beginning of "St. Jimmy" was pretty rough, but that's a vocal phrasing and timing thing that I think will improve greatly over the course of the week.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 2/2/11 at 12:07pm

I thought she was great! Definitely a very different portrayal than Tony's malevolent, sexually ambiguous portrayal and Billie Joe's cocky rockstar portrayal. But she works surprisingly well. As great as she was, however, this was my first time seeing the show where I suddenly realized how small the role of St. Jimmy actually is. Maybe it was because this was my first time not sitting in the front two rows of orchestra for lotto seats (I was in center rear mezz - which was a fantastic seat), but it was just an observation.

Yes, she did come in late on "St. Jimmy" and it took her a verse to get on the music (which was rough to listen to), there were no other mistakes that I noticed the entire rest of the evening. So it could have just been nerves. Either way, that issue will no doubt be mended by tonight's performance. Long story short, she is every bit the rock star presence that Billie Joe was and she jolted the show with a much-needed energy that spread throughout the whole cast. It was a great show.

Also, Van Hughes is excellent as Johnny. Those monologues, on paper, are still pretty stupidly written. But he brought a surprising sincerity to them that I've never seen John Gallagher, Jr. convey. I also think I prefer his vocals to John's.

[darquegk]

Posted: 2/2/11 at 2:25pm

How would you describe her portrayal, like you described the other takes on the character?

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 2/2/11 at 2:38pm

She played the part as a masculine female. Kind of this burnt out, butch badass.

[darquegk]

Posted: 2/2/11 at 4:19pm

Sounds interesting. American Idiot is a show that somehow ends up better than the sum of its parts- sparse book that doesn't add much when it IS there, unsympathetic characters, and an antagonist whose entire character and motivation is left utterly unresolved, and barely addressed.

And yet, it's pretty good in the right hands.

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 2/2/11 at 6:53pm

LOL

[Square Peg2]

Posted: 2/3/11 at 3:21am

I was so excited about this casting - love Melissa, love the show, LOVE the idea of a chick St Jimmy (especially in terms of the balance with Whatsername), but I heard audio of Death of St Jimmy and was really disappointed, it sounded really flat (in terms of energy, not pitch). I truly hope that's simply with the absence of an electrifying presence on stage, rather than an indication of a real lack of character performance.